opinions

TravelNBlog 4 – Coming Back to Jakarta

I stood a bit nervous in front of the class. Thirty four faces faced me as I babbled my way that Saturday morning, kick starting a full weekend of travel blogging. It wasn’t the fact that I had to speak in front of an audience that made me a bit jumpy, but the fact that some of these people had awesome writing skills or had been published; an achievement far beyond Indohoy. Honestly, we weren’t the only ones; some of the team was flabbergasted too. Aside to the nerves, I was also flattered that people were still eager to share and learn with the team at the 4th Travel N Blog, held in Jakarta by popular demand. It was a full house!

Was There Anything Different This Time?

The formula didn’t differ much of that of Travel N Blog 3 in Semarang. We had the same speakers, just a few tweaks on the schedule. After sessions of the travel blogging concept, story telling and photography, the participants were set off on a walking tour with the Jakarta Good Guide at Pasar Baru. The tour became material for homework. Shared tips and trick from the previous sessions would then help the participants create a post, which was competed and became discussion material.

Another additional activity that we did this time was the discussion. Realizing that feedbacks from unique readers (not your mom, family or friends) are valuable, the participants were divided in to small discussion groups to give feedback about each other’s blog. The Travel ‘N Blog team was to facilitate the discussion. Specifically in my group, preference in length of text, photos and color scheme are some things that came up in the discussion. Aside to giving feedback, some participants also provided some great advice about blogging and tools that can help with posting. Vira shared that in her group the issue of using other people’s photos and the use of capital letters came up in the discussion. Before I pointed my finger accusing her bringing up the capital letter issue, she assures me the participants brought it up first. If sharing is caring, there was definitely a lot of love in the room.

Special Guest

We were really happy to finally have one of Indonesia’s prominent travel bloggers, if not the first, to share a little bit of her travel blogging experiences. Trinity from naked-traveler.com has been travel blogging for 10 years since 2005, when the Internet connection in Indonesia was still quite scarce. If there were anyone in Indonesia who gets travel blogging, she would be it.

“I used to type my stories on paper, made copies, and distribute it to my friends,” she said. There was a time where there was no blog at all and yet, she already started sharing her stories. After the email was introduced, she then posted stories on a mailing list, to eventually move to a blog, which has also evolved. Her site has now undergone four facelifts, yet her face has none. I guess traveling keeps her spirit young.

There was so much we learned from her, especially when it comes to haters and being controversial. Intended or not, Trinity is always above the radar as she writes things other people dare not or wouldn’t have thought of, whether it’s from a press trip or not. She tells us the trials and tribulations of her years as a traveler and travel blogger, and we were all little kids listening to a fun story. Whether any of us are fans or not, I think everyone learned a lot from her.

I want to give a special thank you for the team. It wasn’t smooth, but it still became as memorable as the others, especially the part where Trinity ‘graduated’ the participants. Also, to those attending, thank you for putting faith in us. We hope to see you all on the travel blogging playing field.

[…] write this post. After hosting our very own travel blogging workshop with fellow travel bloggers, #TravelNBlog, and then switch places being participants attending TBEX Asia, it became more obvious for me to […]